Trousers



April 4, 1961 E. C. WINSTON ETAL TROUSERS Filed March 10, 1959 Un States 73 n V r TRoUsE'Rsmy C. Winston a fiernard S Holzman, Flossmoor, 111., assignors to Bowling SIacksyIncB, East Chicago, 1nd, a corporation of Illinois Filed Mar. 10,1959; se'r. No2'79 8,371

2 Claims. (11.2-237 This invention relates to trousers or slacks and, more particularly, to trousers which are resilient at the waist to accommodate bending action of the wearer as in sports such as bowling, golf, or tennis.

In prior art trousers, there have been waistbands which were resilient at the front and back, however, it has been discovered, according to the invention, that such a construction does not afford comfort to the wearer in a sport such as bowling in which the wearer, during delivery of the ball, bends sideways as well as forwardly. In such a prior art construction, the bowler may be pinched at the waist during delivery of the ball.

In other prior art constructions, the waistband may be made elastic throughout its entire circumference and although such a construction may afford comfort to the wearer, the waistband is expensive and in order to afford satisfactory performance, the elastic fibres must be woven into or attached to the trouser fabric entirely around the waistline. Such a prior art construction deteriorates rapidly as a result of repeated washing or cleaning as is required in such trousers. Moreover, in such a prior art construction, the trouser fabric is wrinkled around the waist and becomes unsightly after several washings or cleanings.

Accordingly, a primary object of the invention is to devise a novel trouser construction which is economical to produce, is attractive in appearance, is capable of long life in service and accommodates itself to sidewise as well as forward bending of the wearer in any sport but particularly in bowling.

Another object of the invention is to avoid the necessity of weaving the elastic fibres into the trouser fabric or attaching the elastic fibres thereto.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a multiple segment belt having segments of relatively inexpensive material disposed inside the trouser fabric and anchored to the rear seam of the trousers, said belt having relatively expensive outer segments covered with the trouser fabric and having a conventional buckle arrangement.

The outer segments are connected to'the inner segments by elastic strips disposed in diamerically opposed relationship at opposite sides of the waistband.

Yet another object of the invention is to arrange the elastic strips inside the trouser material, so that a major portion of the belt is concealed, with only a few belt loops required for the exposed or outer segments of the belt.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following specification and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view of a bowler wearing a preferred embodiment of the novel trousers;

Figure 2 is an enlarged side perspective view of the novel trousers shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a front-perspective view of the belt with the truuser' fabric" cut away except at the rear seam; Figure 4 is a sectional View Online of Figure 2;

and

3 Figure 5' is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View of one'trous'er slit and its related belt loop.

EDes'cribing thein'vention" in detail and referring first" tojFig'ure l, the novel trousefs' generally 'desi'gnated 2 are" worn by" a bowler4' depicted in the act of delivering It will be seen (Figure 1 a bowling ball (not shown). 7 than one" le'g" 6 of the bowler is'forwa'rdarid bent at the knee, as at 8; the other leg 10 of the bowler extends rearwardly and is substantially straight because the leg 10 acts as a brake to stop forward'sliding of the bowler who is primarily supported on leg 6. During this action, the bowler leans or bends forwardly and sometimes sideways and this action is accommodated by the novel construction shown in Figures 2-4.

Referring now to Figure 2, the trousers are formed of fabric 12 which is slotted as at 14 at opposite sides thereof. A loop 16 overlaps each slot 14 and is attached to the fabric 12 in the usual manner. The location of loop 16, however, is important because it not only conceals the slot 14 but prevents damage to the fabric 12 by the pulling of the belt 18 against the fabric at the slot 14.

The belt 18 comprises preferably inelastic outer segments 20 and 22, preferably covered by the fabric 12 in order to afford a matching construction. Segment 20 comprises a conventional buckle 24 and segment 22 comprises holes 26 for attachment in the usual manner to buckle 24.

The belt 18 also comprises preferably inelastic inner segments 28 attached to the rear seam 30 of the trousers. The segments 28 are folded inwardly as at 34 and are attached as by stitching at 36 to outwardly folded segments 37 of the inner waistband 38 having rubber pads 40 (Figure 2) stitched thereto and adapted to hold the wearers shirt within the trousers.

The segments 28 are connected to elastic strips 44 which are connected to the outer segments 20 and 22 and are arranged at diametrically opposite sides of the trousers approximately midway between the fly 46 and the rear seam 30 as best seen in Figures 2 and 3.

Thus, the segments 28 and the elastic strips 44 are entirely concealed by the trouser fabric 12 when the trousers are worn. Moreover, the elastic strips 44 are not stitched or otherwise attached to the fabric 12 so that the strips 44 are afforded a floating attachment to the trousers by means of the belt segments 28 which are attached only to the rear seam 30 of the trousers.

The outer segments 20 and 22 of the belt 18 are preferably confined by trouser loops 48 disposed forwardly of loops 16.

This novel construction is not only sturdy, economical, and attractive but has been found to prevent pinching of the wearer during the forward and sideways bending of the wearer in sports such as bowling, golf, and tennis.

While the present invention has been explained and described with reference to specific embodiments of structure, it will be understood, nevertheless, that numerous modifications and variations are susceptible of being incorporated without departure from the essential spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, it is not intended for an understanding of this invention to be limited by the foregoing description nor by the illustrations in the annexed drawings, except as indicated in the hereinafter appended claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows:

1. In sports trousers having a fly and a rear seam diametrically opposed thereto; the combination of open- P e'ltented Apr. 4, 1961 3 ings through the trousers at opposite sides thereof, a divided belt having a pair in inelastic inner segments attached to the seam, and a pair of inelastic outer segments extending into respective openings, and spaced resilient means connecting the inner segments to respective outer segments, said spaced resilient means 'being diametrically opposed to each other and arranged approxi-- mately midway between the fly and seam, said resilient means being entirely disposed inside the trousers and being attached thereto only by said inner segments, and said inner segments being attached to said trousers solely by said seam, whereby the resilient means are floatingly attached to the trousers.

2. Sports trousers, according to claim 1, wherein belt supporting loops overlap respective openings and confine the outer segments.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,162,260 Sklar Nov. 30, 1915 1,565,049 Block Dec. 8, 1925 2,223,621 Knappenberger Dec. 3, 1940 10 2,236,693 Newman Apr. 1, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 697,622 Great Britain Sept. 23, 1953 779,499 Great Britain July 24, 1957 

